Abstract Detail

Comparative Growth Response of Various Cultivars of Bermuda Grass (Cyanodon Dactylon) to Salinity.

Turf grasses range from extremely salt sensitive to highly salt tolerant. Turfgrass improvement for salinity tolerance requires reliable assessment for their adaptability to saline conditions, which vary among grasses. In the present study 4 bermudagrass cultivars -Tifway, Tifdwarf, Dacca and Khabbal (ecotype) were assessed for salinity tolerance using solution culture system in green house conditions. After 45 days of plantation in Hoagland nutrient solution, grasses were treated with salinity stress (50 mol/m3, 100 mol/m3, 150 mol/m3 and 200 mol/m3) while the control had concentration of 2.4 mol/m3. Data were recorded on fourteen different physical and physiological parameters. Data was analyzed by ANOVA Technique, and means were compared by DMR test. The results of this work revealed that increasing salt concentration in the nutrient media caused: (a) a reduction in number of stolons/plug, number of roots/plug, length of root and shoot, average diameter of stolons, fresh and dry weight of stolons, turf quality, stolon diameter and potassium contents in stolons (b) increase in %age leaf firing, sodium and chloride contents in stolons. On over all basis, Tifway was found most tolerant to salinity while Khabbal was most sensitive.